82 GRAMMAR OP THE LANGUAGE 



pound their words. It was first observed by Egede in his 

 account of Greenland, and Mr Heckewelder explains it at 

 large in the eighteenth letter of his correspondence*. By 

 this means, says governor Coldeh, speaki >g of the Iro- 

 quois, these nations can increase the number of their words 

 to any extent. None of the languages of the old world that 

 we know of appear to possess this prerogative: a multitude 

 of ideas are combined together, by a process which may be 

 called agglutination, if the term be found agreeable, but which, 

 whatever name it may receive, is not thp less a subject of 

 real wonder to the inquiring philologist. I have not space 

 to give here many examples of this manner which the In- 

 dians have of combining several ideas together into one 

 locution. I must therefore refer the reader to those ad- 

 duced by Egede and by Mr Heckewelder. in the above cited 

 passage of his correspondence. 1 shall, however, select a 

 word from the Delaware language, which will convey a char 

 idea of the mode of formation of all others of the same kind. 

 I have chosen this word for the sake of its euphony, to which 

 even the most delicate Italian ear will not be disposed to 

 object. When a Delaware woman is playing with a little 

 dog or cat, or some other young animal, she will often say 

 to it kuligatschis ! which I would translate into English, give 

 me your pretty little pau\ or what a pretty little paw you 

 have! This word is compounded in the following manner: 



A" is the inseparable pionoun of the second person, and 

 may be rendered by thou or thy, according to the context. 



Uli (pronounced oolee) is part of the word rvulit, which 

 signifies handsome or pretty. It has also other meanings 

 not necessary to be here specified. 



Gat is part of the word wichgat, which signifies a leg or 

 paw. 



Schis is a diminutive termination, and conveys the idea of 

 littleness. 



* Hist. Trans, p. 405. 



